Category: Our Life

The wedding was October 6th, and it went off (mostly) without a hitch. The weather was drastically hotter than either Matt or I had hoped for; we chose October for fall colors and cooler weather, not record setting highs of 87°F. The church had air conditioning, though, so it all worked out in the end. Outside of the unseasonably warm weather, the only slight hiccup was that the flower girl, my 2 1/2 year old niece Laurel, got about 2/3 of the way up the aisle before she changed her mind and ducked down a pew. No screaming or crying, just a slight detour, so it could have been much worse.

Overall, things just went well; the flowers were beautiful, the food was tasty, and the photographer was fabulous. Any doubts Matt had about dropping the amount of money we did on the photographer were gone as soon as the portraits started. She was friendly, quick, and took beautiful shots (what I saw on her camera, at least). The proofs should be ready in about 4 to 6 weeks, and I can’t wait to see them. I’ll post the link once they’re ready, so everyone can check them out.

I just got the photo CD from my sister of all the pictures she took that weekend; I’m expecting another CD from mom & dad any day now, with the pictures they took. Once I get them all cleaned up and weed out the less fabulous shots, I’ll put them up at the gallery. I need to finish up the honeymoon pictures, too, and post them; expect a barrage of photos in the near future.

This past Saturday was my bridal shower up in Traverse City. It was pretty fun, as far as bridal showers go, I must say. Lots of fun games, tasty food, and family. And lots of kitchen gadget goodness! Of course, now we need a bigger kitchen to hold all the kitchen stuff. Or maybe a storage unit – Matt & I still haven’t claimed our storage unit in the basement of the apartment yet.

The day after the bridal shower, we had a surprise baby shower brunch for Nikki & Mark, since their baby is due about a month before the wedding. Apparently she had no clue, even when she walked into the restaurant and saw Mark’s family there. She was under the assumption that the brunch was for Matt & I, and was terribly confused as to why her in-laws would be at our brunch.

So last night we (and by “we,” I mean “I”) caught Hell for not having registered anywhere for the wedding. I never know where to register, or what to register for. Mom sort of took care of the first one for us – she told people were going to register at Target and Kohl’s, which works. So tonight Matt & I filled out the registry, and got one of the fun little zappy guns, and registered for things at Target. Having had my own place for over 2 years, though, I already had most of the household basics. We have a full set of Pfaltzgraff dishes, new towels, a nice vacuum, a KitchenAid mixer, basic furniture, a decent TV, DVD/VCR. Pretty much the entire kitchen is set. Being content with what you have makes it difficult to register for things you want. It’s not that we don’t want things, it just that some things we wouldn’t register for until we had a house, or a garage. And while I’d like a nice big flat screen television, who would buy one for us? I think our registry is going to be a bit fun, if nothing else.

Well, I think my dad just solved my problem in trying to find a song for the Father/Daughter dance at our reception. I was brainstorming, trying to find an appropriate song, and the best I could come up with was Butterfly Kisses. It’s not a bad song, but I think it’s a bit overused and impersonal. So today I get an email from dad, saying unless I already had something I wanted to use, he was requesting “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. I hadn’t heard it, so I searched online, and I think we have a winner. For those of you that haven’t heard it, I’ve embedded it below. Opinions?

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Matt & I were out tonight, picking up some things for the apartment – he needed a nightstand, and we were looking for a small bookshelf for the office, to hold computer books. We went to Big Lots, since they were closed Sunday when we tried last. Holy crap! We should have gone earlier! Not only did they have a nice little nightstand, and a short bookshelf, and a magnetic towel bar for the kitchen, they had ANIME! Good anime, even! They had the Cowboy Bebop: Best Sessions for $3! Sure, it’s not the whole series, but it’s only $3. They had stacks of anime; lots of which I’d not heard of before. We got the first volume of Galaxy Angel and Panda Z for $3 each, as well. Even if they turn out to be crap, they were only $3.

This past weekend, Matt & I moved into our new apartment. It’s really nice – nearly twice as large as my old apartment. Third floor apartment, too, so it was LOTS of fun moving stuff in. We still don’t everything situated the way we want, but we’re getting there. The old apartment has been a major hassle, though. I contacted the leasing agent at the old apartment, to let them know we’re not renewing the lease when it expires at the end of the month, and we’ve made alternate arrangements since we never heard back from them about the availability of a 2 bedroom apartment. Now they’re like “Oh no, we need a 30 day written notice!” Um, my LEASE EXPIRES. I didn’t RENEW. I’m not breaking my lease, just not renewing it. And now they’re trying to tell me my lease expires the end of July, not the end of June. Try again – my original lease was January 2005 through December 2005. When that expired, I signed an 18 month lease, from January 2006 through June 2007. It’s this kind of crap that caused me to LEAVE the old apartment. I was there for less than 30 months, and in that time there were at LEAST 3 different leasing agents. No one informed anyone else of what was going on – the original leasing agent waived the pet rent, but didn’t note it on the lease, and 2 subsequent leasing agents started harassing me for having a cat. They were bad about upkeep; my screen door was bad when I moved in, and was never fixed. The cupboard underneath the garbage disposal was moldy and warped from when the disposal leaked. They replaced the disposal, but ignored my requests to do something about the cupboard underneath. When the doorknob for my apartment broke and needed to be replaced, it took them nearly a week to replace it. I’ll be happy when I don’t have to deal with them anymore.

I’ve been meaning to post a bit, but I’ve been a bit preoccupied the past week or so – Matt & I move into our new apartment this weekend, and I don’t have nearly enough stuff packed as I had hoped. This past weekend we went up to Traverse City for my cousin’s wedding – photos are coming soon, I promise. Once we get moved and a bit more settled, expect to see posts more often.

So the weather has finally warmed up to the point where we can start going for bike rides again. Wednesday was our second time out this season – still not up to the full 11 mile round trip, but working our way up there. The last time we went, I couldn’t believe all the flowers that were in bloom, and wished I’d brought my camera. This time I had no such regrets – I made a point of bringing my camera along. I took pictures of all sorts of pretty flowers, including these purple ones I can’t identify. I was fairly confident that it was a variety of phlox, but all the references online say that phlox has five petals, not four. Any ideas?

Matt & I have our new apartment all lined up! We move in June 16th; it’s at Sutton Club, which is very nice. There’s a pool, and great big decks, and a HUGE living room. Definitely a move up. My current apartment is 600 square feet, which isn’t bad for just me, but isn’t really big enough for two computer geeks. The new apartment is a 2 bedroom, and is 1,100 square feet, which my mom tells me is larger than my parent’s first house by about 60 square feet. Plus it has 1 3/4 bathrooms (the master bath has a shower stall, but no tub), so we won’t be fighting for bathroom space or time.

One of the big things for me, though, is that it has a DINING ROOM! Some of the houses we were looking at before didn’t even have a dining room. I would love actually having a table to have dinner at, instead of just pulling out the TV trays and eating at the couch. Yes, I have a bar in my apartment, but it always manages to be completely covered in stuff that has no better home. Imagine that.

It’s also a 3rd floor apartment, which is both good and bad. Bad, in that it will suck hauling furniture up the steps. But good in that we won’t have upstairs neighbors stomping around, and we won’t have to keep the bedroom window shut in the middle of the sweltering hot summer because the sprinkler is aimed RIGHT at it. We can leave the windows cracked open, and not have to worry about someone breaking in while we’re gone. I can’t wait! Less than a month until move-in…

Just 5 months and 2 days until the wedding. As far as plans go, I think we have most of the big things down. The church is booked, the reception hall is booked, the DJ is booked, the florist is booked, the cake lady is booked, and the dress is purchased. The last of the big things, the photographer, is almost booked. I went from being unable to find ANY photographer, to having 2 possible options.

Option #1 is Classic Photography by Kim Knauf, who came recommended by the wedding coordinator at the reception hall. I’ve looked at her sample photos on her website, and I like her style. She does proof CD’s, which I like; I anticipate putting up a copy of all the pictures on my gallery, once we get them. The only problem is, the package we would likely do, including the proof CD, would be about $2,200, which is a bit more than I was hoping to spend. And she would need $950 as a retainer to reserve the day, and I don’t keep that kind of cash just lying around.

Option #2 is Bosman Photography – his card showed up on Matt’s desk at home, so we’re not entirely sure who put it there. I’ve looked at the sample photos he has on his website, and his style isn’t bad, but I think I prefer the look of some of the photos from Classic Photography. His prices are much more reasonable, though; the package we would likely do would be between $1,400 and $1,650, depending on which proof CD or DVD we would get. I’m not sure what he requires for a deposit, either.

So therein lies my dilemma; I think I prefer the look of Classic Photography, but I’m not sure I’m willing to pay her rates. I am willing to pay the rates of Bosman Photography, but I’m not totally in love with his samples. What to do?